1. Field of the Invention.
The present invention relates to electrical connectors and, in particular, to an assembly and method for connecting a terminator to a cable.
2. Description of Related Art.
Conventionally, cable termination circuits, including terminators, noise suppression circuits, and peak suppressors, have had to be electrically connected to a cable by first connecting a connector to the cable, and then connecting the circuit to the connector, for example by plugging the connector into outlets provided on the circuit board.
While this method of attaching a cable termination circuit to a cable is not complicated, it has been proposed to make the attachment process even simpler by pre-integrating the connector and the circuit so that a user of the termination circuit can easily connect the circuit board to the cable by simply attaching the connector to the cable, without the need for subsequently adding a circuit board.
An example of a prior art assembly for connecting a circuit to a flat cable, in which the circuit may be pre-connected to the connector, is found in Pat. No. 4,610,493 to Masek. Masek discloses a ribbon cable connector which carries two rows of terminal pins. A transient suppression circuit consisting of resistors is pre-connected to the terminals of the connector. After attaching the connector to the cable, clips and a cover are added for the purpose of holding the assembly together.
While relatively simple, the assembly of Masek is disadvantageous because it requires that each of the circuit elements be soldered directly to the pins of the connector. Furthermore, the cover cannot be provided as an integral part of the assembly, which means that the circuit must lie exposed until after it has been mated with the cable. If the circuit terminator is to be attached to a cable in situ, e.g., by an unskilled personal computer owner, there is a great danger that the circuit will be damaged during connection to cable.